Sad anniversary for missing man's family

Patrick Cronin

Sunday

Jul 3, 2011 at 2:00 AM

Every Fourth of July for the last 11 years, the Pishon family has come forward with the same plea looking for any information regarding the disappearance of their son and brother, a security guard and former Concord police officer who went missing on July 5, 2000, in Seabrook and was never seen again.

Every Fourth of July for the last 11 years, the Pishon family has come forward with the same plea looking for any information regarding the disappearance of their son and brother, a security guard and former Concord police officer who went missing on July 5, 2000, in Seabrook and was never seen again.

Even though Curtis Pishon is technically still listed as missing by the Seabrook Police Department, because of tips they've received over the years, his family and police officers who worked the case, believe he was murdered.

They even have an idea about who was responsible, but without probable cause and tipsters willing to go on the record, no arrests can be made.

"I would love for one day to see a resolution," said Pishon's father, Nicholas Pishon. "All we want to do is give Curt a proper burial and hopefully one day see the conviction of the person responsible."

The N.H. Attorney General's Cold Case Team and Seabrook Police Department continue to investigate Pishon's disappearance and possible murder. Last year, state police dug up the back yard of a home at 128 South Main St. in Seabrook after receiving a tip that Pishon's body was buried there. Although the digging did not unearth Pishon's remains, his' sister Crystle said it at least put those suspicions to rest so investigators can concentrate on other leads.

Here one moment, gone the next

Pishon was just shy of his 41st birthday when he went missing. All his family knows about that night is from witness statements and police and fire records. On July 4, 2000, Pishon arrived at his security guard job at the former Venture Corporation in Seabrook around 9:30 p.m., parking his car in the lot near the guard shack.

Pishon's supervisor called him at midnight July 5 to see if everything was OK. Pishon told the supervisor nothing was wrong at the plant. Two hours later, Pishon called the Seabrook Fire Department to report that his car was engulfed in flames. The last time he was seen was at 3:15 a.m. as several coworkers told police they saw him walking around the building.

Then he disappeared.

The first person to notice he was missing was a worker who arrived at 3:45 a.m. Pishon's burned-out car was still parked at the gate and his cigarettes and contact lens solution were inside the guard shack. When police searched the scene, they found a few vending machines had been vandalized and a door was kicked in. A night shift foreman reported to police that he saw two vehicles racing out of the driveway around the time of Pishon's disappearance but wasn't able to give police a description of the vehicles.

Wrong place,

wrong time

Seabrook Police Lt. Michael Gallagher has said he has a "person of interest" in the case, but without probable cause and tipsters willing to go on the record, no arrests can be made. In the past, Seabrook police have publicly admitted frustrations with the culture and "code of silence" in which potential credible witnesses within the Seabrook community have been threatened and intimidated about coming forward with information necessary to resolve the case.

Gallagher previously said he believes Pishon's disappearance was due to "foul play" and he was most likely killed. He believes Pishon stumbled upon a crime while he was guarding Venture and was killed by those he caught in the act.

Gallagher has said that three suspicious incidents took place at Venture on the morning Pishon disappeared: First, Pishon's car was torched, then there was an attempt to break in and steal money in vending machines at the plant, and finally, the padlocked door of a union office at Venture was kicked in.

Gallagher thinks Pishon's car may have been torched to divert attention from a planned crime, and that after stumbling upon the crime, Pishon was killed — accidentally or purposefully — and his body hidden by those responsible.

A sad anniversary

Until Pishon's disappearance, July was a month of celebration for the family that included a Fourth of July party and his July 11 birthday, Crystle said. Now it's a sad day, a day when they remember Curtis.

"He was always someone I could count on," she said. "Every time I needed to talk to somebody or borrow money, for most of my life, he was the one I would go to."

Pishon was an Army veteran and lived his dream as a Concord police officer from 1984 to 1994 before being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

"That was hard on him because he always wanted to be a police officer," Crystle said.

When he could no longer serve as a police officer, he chose to work as a security guard.

For the family, all they want is closure. Pishon was declared legally dead in 2008 and while there is a gravestone at his burial plot at a veterans cemetery, his body does not lie there.

Crystle said every year that goes by it becomes more frustrating knowing her brother's killer walks the street. She hopes whoever is responsible will finally clear their conscience and come forward.

Crystle said the statute of limitations has run out for all who may have been involved except the one who actually committed the murder.

"I know there are people out there who know what happened," she said. "I wish they would just come forward. It's heart-wrenching. We just want to bring Curt home and give him a proper burial for we can grieve and move on."

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